Square Enix has apologised for its latest Hitman: Absolution promotion, a short-lived Facebook app that allowed friends to publicly trade tasteless insults.

The app allowed users to carry out a “hit” on their Facebook friends by selecting identifying characteristics and a reason for the hit from a predetermined list.

Identifying characteristics for women included “her small tits”, “her muffin top”, and “her hairy legs”.

Identifying characteristics for men included "his ginger hair", "his shit hair", and "his tiny penis".

Reasons for the hit ranged from "smells bad" to accusations of cheating on a partner.

A personalised video would then be posted to that friend’s Facebook wall, identifying them as a target.

If they signed up to watch it, their photos and Facebook details were spliced into a clip of Agent 47 shooting them.

The app lasted for fewer than three hours before it was pulled, with Square Enix describing it as "wide of the mark".

"Earlier today we launched an app based around Hitman: Absolution that allowed you to place virtual hits on your Facebook friends. Those hits would only be viewable by the recipient, and could only be sent to people who were confirmed friends," the company told Eurogamer.

"We were wide of the mark with the app, and following feedback from the community we decided the best thing to do was remove it completely and quickly. This we've now done.

"We're sorry for any offence caused by this."

Several game designers expressed surprise at the app, including Rocksteady’s Sarah Wellock.

“With the horrific rise in internet bullying it seems like a risky move to publish an app that encourages bullying. All press is good press?” she tweeted.

"The Hitman facebook advertising thing is just all the kinds of messed up. How did anyone think this was a good idea?" tweeted BioWare's Jos Hendriks.

The Hitman franchise is certainly no stranger to controversy. Earlier this year the game gained widespread exposure when Square Enix released a trailer featuring fetishized nuns being shot by Agent 47.